


Tulip's Diary (Storks)

by Ziyongliu



Category: Storks (2016)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Interspecies, Love, Oneshot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 03:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11661096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziyongliu/pseuds/Ziyongliu
Summary: Junior is boss of the Baby Factory now with Tulip as his partner. Just months after they delivered Diamond Destiny to her family and reuniting Tulip with hers, Junior noticed a shift in his platonic relationship with Tulip.





	Tulip's Diary (Storks)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I ship Tulip and Junior. Just a short story to relieve the writer's block I'm having with my other fan fiction. Enjoy!

The change in the air was noticeable as the months forwarded to December. There was a holiday which the humans called Christmas and apparently it suspended all kind of works… except for the storks. Delivering babies was an all-year job with no holidays. There were breaks, vacations but could be expended individually. The factory cannot stop its manufacture as letters from all over the world arrive every day.

Junior was in the office, monitoring charts that no longer illustrated profits. The chart illustrated the deliveries, the tally of orphaned babies and what more problems the factory encountered. The month had just entered but for some reason it already seemed so unforgiving.

He flipped the chart and picked up the phone, calling directly to the mailroom where Tulip worked. The phone rang but nobody picked up. Sighing, Junior dialed again. This time, the call was answered.

“Hello, Tulip, could you get me a record—”

“Hold on right there,” replied a familiar voice but it wasn’t Tulip’s.

“Dougland?” Junior asked.

“Yes,” Dougland snorted in the background and then got back to Junior. “I’m covering for Tulip because she said she needed to talk to you.”

“That’s good,” Junior said, “I really need to talk to her too but I see that she and I just missed each other.”

Quickly thereafter, the door of Junior’s office was kicked opened and a frivolous Tulip came marching in.

“Never mind then. She’s here,” Junior placed the phone down. “Tulip,” he smiled, “Just the person I was looking for.” The redheaded teenager seemed much more enthusiastic than usual. Her cheeks were flushed as if she hid away a message of bliss, waiting for the right moment to deliver it. And Junior forgot how _beautiful_ she was.

“Well, I am the only person here at the factory so who else would you be looking for?” she giggled fervently. “Anyway, I’ve come here to talk to you about something…” she trailed off and then ran to Junior’s desk, seating on the top.

“Good, good,” Junior nodded his head. “I also have something to talk about with you.”

“So who goes first?” Tulip asked and then answered simultaneously. “You go first, you’re the boss.”

Junior chuckled, walking across Tulip. He wasn’t himself currently with the way he looked at the human before him. He kept on noticing the subtlest things about Tulip like a wild tuft of her curly hair, dangling on her forehead and those extra warm cheeks, so red almost as if she was blushing.

He walked closely to Tulip and brushed the tuft of hair back in place. “I am the boss,” Junior said, looking Tulip in the eyes. “Which is why I should listen to my employees first.”

Tulip was staring at Junior blankly if not, awkwardly. “Okay…” she stretched that one word until Junior realized he was being creepy. The stork took a few steps back, hiding his face from the awed teenager.

“The hair was bothering me…” Junior alibied.

“So much as that feather out of place at the back of your head?” Tulip pointed out with a smile.

Junior touched the back of his head. “It’s my style actually,” he smiled widely. “Distinguishes me from the other storks and all.”

“You look pretty distinguishable to me,” Tulip chortled, “With or without that. There’s only one Junior.”

Junior blushed. His heart galloped wildly inside his chest and he had no idea why. Perhaps it’s _that_ time of the month—wait, he’s not even female to have hormonal imbalances. Think, Junior, think.

“Anyway…” Tulip said. “I came here to tell you that I will be leaving for the holidays.”

Junior’s mood suddenly changed to curiosity. “Holidays?” he asked.

“Yes,” Tulip confirmed. “It’s called Christmas and it’s celebrated by families all over the world! It’ll be my first Christmas with my family. Isn’t it great?” Tulip was spinning around the office and then dancing, holding Junior on the wings and pulling him to dance with her. “I am so excited.”

“But who’s gonna sort out the mail?” Junior was more concerned about Tulip leaving than what he said. He got used to having Tulip by his side during working hours and he did the courtesy of bringing Tulip back home after work and picking her up in the morning. Not having her was a big change in routine.

“I talked to my friends about that…” Tulip pointed at Junior with a gun-hand gesture.

“Dougland?” Junior sounded a bit worried. “No offence Tulip but Dougland is kind of a…”

Tulip gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. “I know… but I had that sorted out too. My two other friends will watch over Dougland.”

“The emu and the quail?” Junior wasn’t sure. He had more to say to Tulip but found that the words stuck inside his mind. Out of his silence, Tulip walked out of the office, merrily convinced that Junior approved her vacation leave.

“But I want you here with me…” Junior said under his breath.

***

The days ran quick and it was a day before Tulip leaves for the holidays. Junior was out of his office, walking around the factory when his eyes caught the redness of Tulip’s hair. She came from her small office adjacent to the mailroom carrying a large bag.

Not long after, she spotted Junior and waved her hand. Junior waved a wing in return as Tulip approached him.

“Junior!” Tulip walked through the crowd of storks and in front of Junior. “I have something to tell you.”

“Not now, Tulip,” Junior pretended to be busy, monitoring the factory and commenting randomly at other storks.

“It’ll only take a second,” Tulip said but Junior kept up his pretension until they lost each other to the crowd of birds.

Junior walked aimlessly and when he spotted a door, he got in and locked it. He took a deep breath, still perplexed as the first day he noticed an anomaly with his feelings for the human. He bent down, getting comfortable when he realized that he was inside Tulip’s office.

The dumbfounded stork got up immediately, both curious and excited at the place he’s found himself in. The place wasn’t completely empty but it was almost cleaned out. Tulip really was excited about the holidays.

Junior walked to Tulip’s table and noticed a journal lying around.

“Tulip’s Diary” was printed on the cover page by cut-out letters handcrafted by Tulip herself. Junior knew it was wrong to invade Tulip’s privacy but slowly, he kept on flipping the pages. The records written on the first pages were mostly about Tulip’s lonely life as being an orphan to which Junior wasn’t surprised about.

He just felt guilty that they all called her ‘Orphaned Tulip’ instead of just Tulip. Deep down, he knew that it hurt the human but he kept on anyways out of conformity with the other storks and the need to fit in. How he regretted it.

As he skimmed through the pages, he read an entry that caught his attention. Its date was back when the factory was still Cornerstore, before Diamond Destiny and all.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today, I passed by my favorite stork, Junior on the way to my garage. Out of basic comparison, he and I are different which is why I am troubled by my admiration for him. Growing up with storks really knows how to confuse the mind. I mean, I—myself, find him cute with or without that feather out of place at the back of his head._

_On an abstract note, I think that if I were a stork myself, things would be no different. I mess things up which is why he wouldn’t like me either way. It would be much more embarrassing if I were a stork and this much pain in their tails._

The entry was short but full of feelings—that’s what Junior noticed. It made him wonder if Tulip was aware all along that he was evasive of her just to keep a clean name. Junior was suddenly disgusted with his previous self. Now that he read one entry, he couldn’t stop reading.

He searched for the date when they delivered Diamond Destiny—the days they spent together.

_Dear Diary,_

_I wasn’t wrong in admiring Junior. He turned out to be more than what I expected plus I get to spend time with him. My first delivery went well… so well I miss it but the time we rocked Diamond Destiny to sleep was what etched itself inside my mind. It was more than just to get her to sleep. I found peace inside the wings of the one I admire most._

Junior stopped. Was Tulip… in love with him?

He skipped a few pages and flipped to more current entries. He found that Tulip mentioned him lesser and more of her family. It couldn’t be helped since it’s what Tulip longed for so many years but it also made Junior think if Tulip got over him.

Junior closed the diary and placed it back on the table. He got out of Tulip’s office and walked through the crowd of storks with a few bumping onto him. He stopped on his tracks, facing forward to catch Tulip in his vision with her giant backpack, waving at him.

Time seemed to have slowed down for Junior as it hastened for everyone else. The perplexed stork was walking towards Tulip with vague intentions but had one thing clear: he loved her.

“Junior, I’ve been looking for you—” Tulip was cut short when Junior pulled her by the arm and kissed her.

All the birds stopped working as their eyes glued to the most peculiar thing they have ever seen but Junior didn’t care. Nor did Tulip.

Tulip was deep inside Junior’s kiss, slightly pecked by the sharpness of the stork’s beak but it was all too wonderful to be spoiled by anything else.

Junior’s confusion subsided like a calm tide as Tulip’s arms wrapped around his neck. They broke away, looking at each other shyly before noticing the other birds staring at them awkwardly.

A few moments later, one stork cheered, followed another until everybody in the factory yelled for them.

“I guess they’re fine with this kind of stuff…” Junior whispered to Tulip.

“I don’t care about them,” she bit her lip. “I only care about you.” she held Junior’s wing and kissed him on the side of the beak.

“You were gonna tell me something?” Junior asked sheepishly.

“Oh, I was going to invite you for the holidays! You, me and my family! It’s gonna be awesome!”

“Who’s going to look out for the factory?”

Tulip smiled slyly which made Junior pray that it wasn’t the chicken, the quail and the emu.

One holiday passes by so quick… what could the trio possibly do in that amount of time?

Who knows?


End file.
